


Chains of The Past

by Ereri_mybabies



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: 104th Training Corps Shenanigans, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst, Bottom Eren Yeager, Canon Compliant, College Student Eren Yeager, Emotional Baggage, Eren Yeager Has PTSD, Fluff and Smut, Levi Ackerman Has Feelings, Long-Haired Eren Yeager, M/M, Multi, Post-Rumbling (Shingeki no Kyojin), Recovered Memories, Tea Shop Owner Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Top Levi Ackerman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:55:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29688459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ereri_mybabies/pseuds/Ereri_mybabies
Summary: Eren Jaeger suffers from a reoccurring dream. A dream where he used to be a soldier, fighting gigantic cannibalistic threats to humanity. A dream where he was one of the very things he despised the most. A dream where he used his power to destroy the entire world in hopes of peace.Not for himself, but peace for his friends...and his lover.Eren continues to have bits and fragments from his past life come back to him in a dream and in reality. A significant shard of glass lands right before his feet and that shard is Levi Ackerman. All Eren wants to do is be happy with his friends and truly have a chance at love with Levi, but he can't do as he wishes because the chains of the past still have a hold on him.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Annie Leonhart, Levi Ackerman/Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman/Jean Kirstein, Reiner Braun/Bertolt Hoover, Sasha Blouse/Niccolo
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	1. Prologue

_Eren grips Armin's slimy hand and uses every bit of his strength to pull Armin out of the titan. The blonde lands on the roof. The brunette struggles to hold the titan's mouth open, while stretching his arm out._

_"I refuse...to die like this." Eren says, voice full of determination. "Armin listen, we're still going to the outside world."_

_"The things you told me about it...I have to see it...I have to."_

_Armin reaches forward, "EREN, NO!"_

_The titan's teeth chomp down, making Eren's arm fly off._

"What the fuck!" Eren exclaims, sitting up from his sleep. He clutches his white sheets tightly.

Sweat drips down his brow, his eyes shake with shock, and harsh exhales for air escape his mouth. What the hell was that dream? Eren and Armin were soldiers and they just watched their entire squad get demolished. He then saved Armin from a giant humanoid...no a titan, but before Armin could return the favor, he got eaten.

"It was just a nightmare." The brunette tries to tell himself, but that doesn't stop the shaking. For an illusion that his brain conjured up, why does it feel so real?

Eren looks at the clock. It's 8:40 and classes start at 9:10. He shakes his head and gets up. Eren brushes his teeth, takes a quick shower, uses lotion and deodorant, and gets dressed. He puts on a brown long sleeve shirt, black jeans, and matching Converse. For the finishing touch, he brushes his hair and let's it fall down his shoulders.

Grabbing his backpack and phone, he leaves his bedroom. He passes the living room to enter the kitchen. There's no aroma filling the air, no soft voice singing an old tune, and no crinkling of a newspaper. Eren moved out of his parents' house before college started. He just wanted a fresh start. Now that the brunette has to wake himself up, work to have a home, and still manage classes on top of that, he misses being coddled by his parents.

No time to make food, he grabs a yogurt bar from a container. Afterwards, Eren walks towards the door. He opens it, steps outside, and locks it back. Eren turns to his silver Honda Accord. Walking down the marble trail, he approaches it. He enters the driver's side, inserts his key, and listens to the rumbling of the engine.

"Rumbling..." Eren says out loud. The college student feels like he has a deeper connection to that word and he doesn't know why.

Pulling out of his driveway, he drives towards the exit of his neighborhood. Eren takes a bite out of his yogurt bar as he enters the main road. The brunette likes driving...when he's in a clear state of mind of course. When he's not wrapped up in his thoughts, he drives smoothly. Otherwise, he is swerving into lanes, missing exits, and forgetting to drive when the light turns green.

And he is wrapped up in his own thoughts a lot.

 _Maybe I do need Mikasa in this car at all times,_ Eren thinks.

Eventually, he drives onto the campus of Trost University. Its' a long way from home. Back in Shiganshina, they lived in the country. School busses traveled through forests to drop kids off at their homes. Eren and his friends would have to walk far if they wanted to get to the city.

Now, they live in the city. There are sidewalks to walk on, all kinds of cars-ranging from cheap to expensive-travel through the roads, and everything is within close proximity to their houses. Eren parks and gets out of his car. He looks ahead at the large building. Lastly, they didn't have such a prestigious college back in Shiganshina.

Shiganshina was the type of town that kids desperately wanted to leave and discover a whole new kind of world out there. Just like back then, when Eren and Armin desperately wanted to venture outside the walls and see the ocean.

Emerald eyes widen. _What? Why do I keep referring to that dream like it's real? Like it was our past life or something?_

"I really need to snap out of it." Eren tells himself.

"Eren!" A familiar voice calls out. The brunette looks in the direction of the cheerful voice, "Over here!"

There stands Armin in his light blue cardigan, white button up shirt, black jeans, and white Converse. Beside him are Thomas and Mina, looking alive and well. Everything in Eren's body urges him to give them a hug. So he does, he jogs down the campus and engulfs them in a group hug. Thomas and Mina remain stiff since they're not used to hugs from the brunette.

Their bodies feel warm. Their hearts beat with life. They're alive.

"Woah there buddy." Armin chuckles nervously, hugging him back, "Is everything alright?"

Eren isn't much of an affectionate person, especially not out in public. So him giving his friends a group hug suddenly, makes the blonde nervous. 

"I had a terrible dream that felt so real, so I'm glad you guys are still here." Eren mutters.

"Awww Eren, you big softie!" Mina chuckles, pulling his cheek a bit.

He pouts as he pulls away. "I-I am not!" He stutters with a blush decorating his cheeks.

"You so are." Armin teases him.

"Armin!" Eren gasps at the betrayal.

They proceed to go on and on about how cute it was for Eren to hug them in real life because of a nightmare he had. The brunette stands there with his arms crossed, growing hot in the face from all the teasing. 

Nonetheless, he rather hear their joyful teasing instead of their painful cries for help and mercy. So he lets them have fun.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's something about the tea shop that captivates Eren.

_Eren lies in warm, red, liquid after being swallowed by a titan. His eyes dart down and suddenly start shaking in shock. Around him, are the corpses of soldiers. He lets out a frightened scream and backs up. Eren bumps into something, turns around, and comes face to face with another corpse._   
  
_"This...This isn't real." His voice shakes, "We were ready...We were ready. We hit the books...we trained."_   
  
_He continues to ramble on about how this wasn't how things were supposed to go, until a weak voice interrupts him._   
  
_"Help me...it's so hot."_   
  
_Eren slowly turns around to see a barely alive woman._   
  
_"I need to go home. Mommy where are you?"_   
  
_The brunette gets flashbacks of his mother. Flashbacks of when she was sporting a smile so bright that rivaled the sun. Flashbacks of her scolding Eren. Flashbacks....of his mom getting eaten._   
  
_Just when he was about to give up, he remembered about Armin. Armin's enthusiastic expression when showing him the world outside the walls. Eren's brows furrow. He still has work to do._   
  
_"Damn you." Eren says quietly and then repeats it in a louder voice, "Damn you all to hell!"_   
  
_"I refuse to die like this! I'll drive them all out! Kill them with my bare hands! Do you hear me?! WITH MY BARE HANDS!" He promises._   
  
**Ding! Ding!**   
  
Eren's head flies up at the sudden sound of the bell. His eyes are bigger than they usually are. _That dream...was a continuation of the last one. Doesn't a dream usually end when the dreamer awakens? So why do mine continue like I'm reliving the past or something?_   
  
The brunette grabs his backpack and stands up. Putting it on, he walks towards the door like everyone else. He would shake his head as a way to convince himself that it was just a regular dream not worth the worry, but is it a regular dream at this point?   
  
Lunch time comes around. Eren enters the line and grabs a tray. He puts a sandwich as his main meal with a fruit cup as his side. For a drink, he grabs a water bottle. Finally, he leaves the line and walks in the direction of a certain table. When Eren approaches it, he sees Mikasa, Jean, and Armin on one side and Krista, Ymir, Sasha, and Connie on the other. Eren sits down next to Mikasa.   
  
"Armin, how long are we gonna watch you watch Annie?" Connie groans.

"I-I wasn't watching h-her!" Armin whisper shouts.   
  
"That's what you said the other 115 times you got caught watching her." Mikasa said before taking a sip of her water.   
  
"Y-You counted?!" Armin questioned with a blush spreading across his face.   
  
Jean, Connie, and Ymir snicker. Sasha isn't paying the conversation any mind because she is busy stuffing pieces of beef into her mouth. Meanwhile, Krista gives Armin a sympathetic look.   
  
"Leave him alone you guys." Krista attempts to help him.   
  
"Do you plan on staring at her for the rest of the year or what?" Jean asks Armin, completely ignoring the other blonde.   
  
"He better not since it seems like Bertolt is getting pretty close." Ymir says, pointing at the tall guy.   
  
Everybody follows his finger. Annie and Bertolt are sitting together on the other side of the room. Annie is smiling at him slyly and Bertolt is blushing while scratching the back of his neck.   
  
At Trost University, there is a clear animosity between two groups of freshman, the Paradis natives and the foreigners from Marley. Divisions because of nationalities at a college, sounds strange right? Well, the problem isn't the nationalities itself. It's the fact that Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie were cool with the Paradis natives at first. Then when their friends from Marley came along, they grew distant.   
  
Jean, Armin, Connie, Sasha, and Krista still miss the trio a lot. Ymir could care less that they're gone. Mikasa stays involved in the conversation just to tease Armin about his crush. Lastly, Eren just doesn't pay them no mind anymore.   
  
It always sucks to lose friends, but that's apart of school life. So instead of dwelling on it, the brunette keeps on moving forward.   
  
_Moving forward..._ those words sound just as familiar as the word rumbling to the college student. He wonders why he has such a strong connection to these words. Is it because of the dream?   
  
Eren sucks his teeth as he bites into his sandwich. He's going crazy and he knows it. No sane person would read this deep into a dream, so why does Eren hang onto every little detail like it's a piece of the puzzle?   
  
After lunch, the 19 year old attended German. His parents are German natives and taught him a bit of German growing up, but he hasn't fully mastered it yet. The class he went to afterwards was Philosophy. Eren appreciates this class because he learns about why humans function the way they do behaviorally. He can form his own opinion and get to hear other sides. Although, he might disagree from time to time, they always have valid points.   
  
His school day ends after Philosophy. He gets in his car and drives in the direction of his home. Eren's hair flies all over the place like crazy with his window rolled down.   
  
The plan was to go home, knock some homework out, and then go to work. When emerald orbs land on a small brown building with "Ackerman's Tea" in the middle with bold letters, the plan changes. Armin tells him that peppermint tea has all types of remedies. The most important one to him is improving his sleep.   
  
Anything to get back his dreams of meeting his favorite band instead of having dreams of being a soldier and watching death happen around you.   
  
That's not the only thing that pulls him towards the shop. There's something familiar about that name Ackerman. Eren thought that Mikasa was the only one with such an unique last name. Nonetheless, Eren feels like he met another Ackerman in the past.   
  
Eren pulls into the parking lot. He parks and gets out of the car. Shutting the door, he hops on the curb. The brunette takes slow and curious steps forward. Eren looks into the shop like a small child about to enter the daycare.   
  
_What am I doing? I must look crazy?_ He grabs the door handle and he pulls it open. A jingle rings through the shop, announcing the presence of a customer. Eren enters the shop, stands in place, and looks around.   
  
Definitely a kind of "get your tea and go" kind of shop. There are no tables and chairs set up for conservation.   
  
"Done looking inside like a creep?" came a deep voice. A voice with a hint of sass, that slightly rings a bell in Eren's ear.   
  
Eren turns his head to face the owner of the shop. The man stands behind the counter. Emerald eyes take in the neat black hair with strands decorating his forehead, the thin brows, the small gray eyes, the hero nose, the sharp jawline, and his pale skin. His eyes travel down and takes in the white button shirt that hugs his arms. Eren's search stops there because the counter blocks his waist.   
  
That bored expression...that shortness...he's seen it prior to the dreams he's been having now.   
  
"You sure love to stare, brat." The man comments.   
  
Even the word "brat" seems familiar.   
  
Eren gives him a sheepish grin and scratches the back of his neck. "S-Sorry, it's been a weird day."   
  
"Maybe the day has been just fine and you're the weird one." The man offers.   
  
"Maybe." The college student shrugs before walking forward, "May I get one cup of peppermint tea with sugar?"   
  
"You seem like the kinda guy who likes sweet things." The man says before moving to start on the tea.   
  
"You drink tea without sugar?" He raises a brow. Eren doesn't even eat or drink sweet things often, but even he has to put sugar in tea or coffee.   
  
"And so what if I do?" The man asks, raising a brow of his own.   
  
"Then you're weird." Eren makes a duh expression.   
  
"You're the one who hangs around shops like a stalker." He retorts.   
  
"Please let it go!" The brunette exclaims, covering his flushed face with his hands.   
  
The man does. Silence falls between the two as the raven pours a peppermint mix into the water and adds the mint leaves, and the brunette watches him while he does so. Steam flies from the brewer and the minty smell enters Eren's nose. When it finishes, the man pours the tea in a mug. Then, he opens up a sugar packet, pours it into the tea, and mixes until the particles can no longer be seen.   
  
Finally, he turns around and hands Eren the hot mug.   
  
"Thank you. How much will it be?" He asks while digging in his pocket for his wallet.   
  
"It's free."   
  
Emerald eyes dart up instantly to meet gray ones. "W-What?"   
  
"For first time customers, it's free." The man replies.   
  
"I-I..." Eren stammers, "Who says I will be back? In fact, how will you know its me if I come back?"   
  
"A gut feeling," He answers the first question before answering the second, "Those distinctive eyes, no one could make mistake them."   
  
A blush decorates the brunette's face at the compliment. Eren has gotten plenty of compliments about his eyes before in the past. Compliments like "Woah, those eyes are unreal!" and "Must be nice to have such cool eyes!"   
  
However, those words the man chose...it's like he's saying, "No one's eyes compare to the beauty of yours."   
  
"Wow..." He mutters before speaking up, "Well I'll come back soon, sir-   
  
"Levi."   
  
"Huh?"   
  
"My name's Levi and yours?"   
  
Eren's lips part. The first name along with the last name makes the bells ring louder. He remembers in his earlier dreams, Eren and Armin watched the scouts come back to town. He heard the chants for one name. An unforgettable name.   
  
Captain Levi Ackerman.   
  
"Are you deaf or something? What's your name?" Levi asks again, making him snap out of his trance.   
  
"Eren. Eren Jaeger." Eren answers and watches the man carefully after he says it. Is it only him who remembers this past reality or is he truly going crazy?   
  
Levi nods as if he is processing the name in his head to memory. Other than that, his facial expression stays stoic. The brunette shakes his head and brings the mug to his lips. He takes a sip. As the liquid goes down his throat, he feels the fog in his brain clearing.   
  
_This is good._ Eren turns, "Bye sir."   
  
"Levi." The raven corrects him.   
  
"Right, Levi." Eren corrects himself.   
  
He walks towards the door. As the college student pulls open the door handle, he swears he hears something along the lines of:   
  
"You got the look of the usurper, but the heart of Humanity's Last Hope in this world, Eren."   
  
But he's been having a weird day, so he pays it no mind.


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another piece to the puzzle.

Eren concentrates as he refills the shelves with Lucky Charms. In the middle of doing so, he tied his long hair back into a bun because he found his hair falling in front of his face repeatedly annoying. His eyebrows are furrowed slightly, and his bottom lip turns red due to him biting on it so much, and the muscles in his arms flex a bit.   
  
"Excuse me, sir?"   
  
The brunette pauses and turns his head in the direction of the voice. A middle aged woman stands there. "What can I do for you, ma'am?" Eren asks.   
  
"Do you guys have flat irons?" She asks.   
  
"I'm so sorry. I'm afraid we ran out of them yesterday." He explains.

"No extras in the back?"   
  
_Here we go..._   
  
"No extras in the back." Eren confirms, "The items that we had in storage are being restocked now.   
  
"Can you take a look back there for me?" She asks with a smile.   
  
There it is right there. That's the line Eren hates. Everytime he gets hit with that line, he goes to the back, does a once-over, and then leaves to tell the customer they don't have it. It's Eren job to restock, so if he tells an individual they don't have it, they don't fucking have it.   
  
Today, Eren isn't in the mood to make a trip back there just to pretend he's looking for something.

"Ma'am, I just told you everything from the storage is being restocked now." The brunette reiterates, "The boxes have names written in big bold letters, based off of the items inside. I am 100% sure we don't have flat irons."   
  
"Maybe you weren't looking hard enough the first time." She suggests.   
  
Eren feels his face grow hot with anger. His brows furrow, his eyes narrow, and his lips part in a way that suggests he is gonna spazz. The lady starts to look scared.   
  
"Listen here-"   
  
Suddenly, emerald eyes meet the back of a blonde's head. "Flat irons? Is that what you're looking for, ma'am?" Armin asks politely.   
  
She nods. "I'll go take a look." The blonde tells her before leaving.   
  
The lady's small smile is replaced with a frown when she looks back at Eren. In response to that, the brunette glares at her before continuing to do his job.   
  
A minute later, Armin appears next to them. Eren pauses once again to look at the exchange. Armin offers an apologetic smile to the woman as he tells her what Eren has been telling her all along, just in a more polite way. The woman finally seems to cooperate with facts and leaves the brunette alone.   
  
This is a regular thing that happens at Shadis' Shopping Center. The customers will test Eren's patience and soon find out that he doesn't have much patience. Before the worker gets the chance to snap, Armin steps in.   
  
The brunette doesn't know how the blonde is always nearby since he is a cashier after all, but he is forever grateful that he's there. Eren reckons that's why their friendship has worked and continues to work so well. Since they were kids, Eren was the one who never backed down from saying how he felt. It would get him beat up and then Mikasa would have to save both him and Armin, but the blonde always admired that trait about him.   
  
And Eren always admired Armin's intelligence. His ability to read a situation and act immediately. Over the years, he's come to love his friend's peacemaking nature. It was a pain to see Armin not fight his bullies when he was younger. It was a pain to see him speechless when ridiculed.   
  
However, when he saw the light reflecting off the ocean in Armin's eyes, he realized that the blonde never lost hope. Not after the ridicule. Not even after the bullying. That's when Eren decided that not you don't always have to punch and scream to be a fighter. Dreamers are the greatest fighters there are because no matter how bad life beats them down, they continue to crawl towards that dream, not caring how long it will take.   
  
So when Armin protects him from the line of fire, Eren protects Armin from any obstacle that stops him from meeting his dream.   
  
Suddenly, images flash in his head. _Cannons. A tall fleshy titan. Fire. Syringes. An ocean._   
  
The brunette shakes his head. So much for peppermint tea and it's mind-clearing purposes.   
  
"You're always right on time, Armin." Eren looks at him.   
  
"And you're as reckless as ever." Armin sighs, "When are you gonna learn to control your emotions?"   
  
"If I learned to control my emotions, our team would fall apart." Eren teases with a grin.   
  
Although he says it playfully, his heart hurt a little while saying it. It feels like he knows the feeling all too well, despite never experiencing it. In this world at least.   
  
_In this world? I mean reality._ That dream is just a dream....a long, never-ending dream that hits too close to home. Eren shouldn't take it seriously.   
  
"But it would make my job easier though."   
  
"C'mon, admit it, you love me despite all the trouble I cause you."   
  
"Y-You already know the answer to that, y-you idiot!"   
  
"Hey blockhead!"   
  
Eren and Armin look in the direction of the voice. They see Jean's head peeking out from the chips aisle. He looks irritated.   
  
"Hurry up and finish stocking that shelf already! We got 4 boxes left to restock and I'm only one person dammit!" He exclaims.   
  
A smirk forms on the brunette's face, making the words "Oh no" pop up in the blonde's head.   
  
"I thought horses were supposed to have amazing stamina." He said.   
  
Jean's eyebrows furrow. The next thing Armin knows, the two guys are wrestling. Jean has Eren in a headlock and Eren keeps on lifting Jean off the ground like he is gonna slam him. Armin chuckles nervously at the display.   
  
"Get back to work!" Shadis appears out of nowhere and exclaims.   
  
Everybody jumps. Eren returns to restocking the shelves. Jean darts back into the chips aisle. Lastly, Armin returns to his station. He glares at the brunette one last time before walking off.

* * *

  
  
After work, Eren goes home, takes a shower, and eats a microwavable meal while he works on finishing his paper for his Literature class. The process doesn't go so smoothly due to the 19 year old taking multiple Netflix breaks. Once he commits to his paper, he finds himself turning it in a couple minutes before the deadline.   
  
"I've never crammed so hard in my life." Eren sighs, closing his laptop.   
  
Diving under the covers, he reaches over and turns his light off. Eren turns on his side and pulls the sheet up to his chest. His vision grows blurry as he stares at the wall. Finally, he succumbs to sleep.   
  
_"This isn't your world. Not anymore."_   
  
_The small titan jumps forward. Eren brings his fist back before launching it into it's mouth. "I'll kill every last one of you." He promises._   
  
_The titan falls to the ground. Eren steps in front of it. "Get up." He demands before stomping on it's head. "Get up!"_   
  
_"Let me kill you again,"_ _ **St**_ _ **omp!**_ _"And again,"_ _ **Stomp!**_ _"And again!"_   
  
_"You're mine...all of you. You're all gonna die."_   
  
_"Eren?" A soft voice whispers._   
  
_Eren's eyes slowly widen. He looks up and jumps a bit. Mikasa, Armin, and himself, are surrounded by soldiers with their swords drawn. Mikasa looks back at him. "You alright?" She asks._   
  
_"Hey look at me, Eren. Can you move? Say something." Armin talks to him now, "Listen, we'll have to tell them everything. They're terrified, but they'll understand."_   
  
_"A-Armin wha-"_   
  
_"He said we're all gonna die."_   
  
_"There's not much else you can make of that." A soldier says, "Son of a bitch wants to eat us, you watch."_   
  
_'What the hell are they talking about? What is this? Why are all their blades pointed at us? Those are meant for taking down titans. What's going on?'_ _Eren looks up at a soldier that seems to be a superior officer. That same officer glares down_ _at him_.

_'And what's with that look?'_   
  
_'Are they terrified...of me?'_

_"Cadets Mikasa Ackerman, Eren Jaeger, and Armin Arlert, the three of you have jointly committed a high of treason!" The guy yells, "Whether or not the result is a swift execution, depends on you!"_   
  
_What?_   
  
_"Any attempt to move from where you stand now, anything I deem the least bit suspicious will be met with cannon fire. Do not test me!"_   
  
_"Answer carefully! Eren Jaeger, what exactly are you? Human or titan?" The man questions._   
  
_This leaves Eren confused. 'What is that supposed to mean? Why are they all looking at me like that? It's like they're looking at a monster....Oh God, is that what they think?'_   
  
_"I'm sorry, sir!" Eren yells, "I don't understand!"_   
  
_The man frowns. "Answer me, damn you, invasion will get you nowhere! Don't try to stall with pretend ignorance! You won't stand a chance, you'll be blown to hell before you can assume your true form!"_   
  
_Emerald eyes widen. "W-What true form?"_   
  
_"Please! Those of us saw it happen! You emerged from the caucus of a fallen titan in full view of your comrades!" He yells, speaking from memory._   
  
_"A creature of unknown origin, ability, or legion to slip through an infiltrated Wall Rose and that creature is you!" The man continues, "Under the circumstances, you being sanctioned by his majesty is neither here or there! You're a risk and you're well within my rights to elimnate!"_   
  
_"I will not let the situation stand! Every moment I spend squaling over your supposed innocence puts us all in further jeopardy of an attack by the armored titan!"_   
  
_"Hell, for all I'm aware you're a tactical diversion precisely for that purpose! I'm sorry! Humanity's fate hangs in the balance. I cannot waste any more time or manpower on you. Do you understand? My conscience will not falter to watch you die!"_   
  
_"Nor should it." A female soldier with glasses speaks up now. "As soldiers, they all know the price of their position."_   
  
_"If they're this committed to defiance under the threat of death, so be it. They won't be persuaded and as you say, it would be a waste of time." She concludes._   
  
_"Sir please, this may be our best chance. We'll expand far less artillery if he's in human form." Another soldier says his peace._   
  
_"Excuse me," Mikasa steps forward with her eyes set in a glare, "I wouldn't, not while I'm standing here."_   
  
_She holds her blades in her hands. "Unless anyone's feeling up to the task, in which case, well I'm happy to demonstrate my own technique on you and every last inch of your traitorous flesh."_   
  
_"Okay..somebody talk to me now." Eren said, "What the hell is all this?"_   
  
_"Mikasa!" Armin whisper-shouts, "You can't take them all on! Even if you took down a few, there's nowhere left for you to run!"_   
  
_Mikasa looks back at Armin, obviously not swayed. "Whoever comes at Eren, deals with me." She tells him, "I'll take on the entire regiment if I have to. I don't give a damn what they try to throw at us."_   
  
_"This isn't the only way!" Armin argues, "They're just scared. They don't understand what's happening! We need to calm down and just talk it out."_   
  
_'_ Am _I the only one here who doesn't think I'm a titan? Damnit! Why can't I remember how I got here?'_   
  
_'I'm too weak to stand up and if I say the wrong thing...is this it for me? Killed by people?'_   
  
_'What was that he said about me coming out of a titan carcass in front of everyone? Is he insane? Why is no one making any sense?'_   
  
_'That was just a dream-no, no, no.' Realization dawns on him as he looks down at his torn off sleeve and regenerated arm. 'Am I really one of them? That's not possible.'_   
  
_"One more time!" The frantic voice interrupts him from his inner monologue. "Are you a human being or a titan?"_   
  
_Eren stares at the man. His body is frozen. His mouth won't move. 'I-I don't know what to say. My life's not the only one at stake, but I mean...I've always been one of you.'_   
  
_"I'm human!" He shouts suddenly._   
  
_The wind is the only thing Eren hears as everybody grows quiet._   
  
_"So you say..." The superior officer whispers, "I'm left with no choice."_   
  
_"Forgive me. When push comes to shove..."_   
  
_Armin starts shaking. Mikasa's eyes narrow like she's on guard. The man slowly raises his arm. When he lifts it completely, the trio can hear the sounds of the cannon getting ready to fire._   
  
_Mikasa turns around abruptly. She drops her swords. "Armin, head for the wall!" She exclaims as she scoops up Eren, "I got Eren!"_   
  
_"Wait no!" Eren tells her._   
  
_His eyes fall on the key. "Eren." That's his dad's voice._   
  
_"Behave while I'm gone and I'll let you in on what I've been doing in the cellar."_   
  
_A memory starts playing in his voice. "Listen to me." His dad said with a serious tone, "It's vital that you keep this key on you at all times. Whenever you look at it, let this thought flood over you: I must return to that cellar!"_   
  
_Eren whimpers as another memory hits him._   
  
_His dad holds a syringe. "I'm going to give you a little something to forget for the time being." He turns to Eren with tears flowing down his face, "I'm sorry. I wish there was more time to explain all this."_   
  
_"When the time comes though, know that you must reclaim Wall Maria and head for the cellar."_   
  
_Eren's childish form steps back with fear. His dad steps forward. "It won't be pleasant, but in my heart, I know what I'm doing is for the best!" He exclaims._   
  
_"When the ability confuses you, let their memories act as your guide!"_   
  
_"Eren!" The brunette snaps out of the memory, but not fully. His dad's voice continues to play in his head as he struggles in Mikasa's hold. "One day, the truth will come out!"_

 _Mikasa tries to get control of him while he runs towards Armin._   
  
_"I swear to you, the journey will be a painful one..." Death is nearly closing in. "But it is yours to make!"_   
  
_The cannon fires._   
  
Eren shoots up out of his slumber. His eyes dart around frantically. Sunlight shines through his window and hits him in the face. He's in his room. It's the next day.  
  
"J-Just a dream." His voice shakes and that's when he realizes that he is crying. "More like a nightmare."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I was writing this chapter, I was like "I'm getting hella Eremin vibes". Haha, I loved their friendship prior to the timeskip.


End file.
